Strongman Zishe Breitbart

The Tyranny of Masculinity

Today’s influencers, panicked by AI and its ability to mimic or replace us altogether, preach a new vitalism. Often masculine, sometimes misogynist, this energy is wild and brave and noble, a birthright that cannot be replaced.  

A sample of panels from “Dave Contra” on Instagram

Cartoonists of Instagram: Dave Contra

Cartoons are one of my favorite things on Instagram, especially when they touch on humor, confusion, sadness, practical philosophy, and cultural critique.

Frederick Wiseman

How Frederick Wiseman Harnessed Reality to Give Us Other, Possible Worlds

No other filmmaker, documentary or otherwise, makes us feel not just that we were there, but that we are there every time we watch these films. That assessment sounds cliché, but when discussing Wiseman, even terms such as verisimilitude fall short.

Being Eddie

Documentary ‘Being Eddie’ Means to Cement Legacy

Many recent documentaries about comic entertainers show the alienation, sadness, and self-perceived failure in the lives of people we think of as “funny” and investigate connections among hardship, talent, and drive. While “Being Eddie” is interesting, and Murphy is good in it, if somewhat restrained, it has little such complexity.

Gordon Riots

Why the Line Between Coercion and Consent in Policing Eludes Us

The terms of the struggle are renegotiated every time a law is deemed unjust by civil disobedience, and the tension ratchets up every time we are forced to acknowledge that laws without the threat of possible force are no laws at all. The law may fix the line between coercion and consent, but in a democratic republic we at least have the prospect of that line moving forward or back.

Kathy and Larry Weir

Community Radio in St. Louis Comes Back from the Dead

The new initiative aspires to acquire an FM frequency one day, and these volunteers who banded together to save community radio in St. Louis are a smart, tough, resourceful crowd. I expect to report their further success one fine day.

paperback books (Photo by Laura Rivera via Unsplash)

Yes, We Can Be Ambivalent About the Death of Mass-Market Paperbacks

Almost anyone over the age of 40—dare it be said, even 35?—has their own indelible memory of this crafty little reading medium.

The Purpose of a Cookery Book

Like many old cookbooks, Jessie Conrad’s contains recipes we all still know and enjoy, such as an apple tart from scratch, as well as those you might not have enjoyed in a generation or two, such as calf’s kidney on toast; bacon pudding; pigeons with carrots; and “Boiled Mutton for an Invalid.”

Unfettered; John Fetterman

Maverick or Misfit, a Senator Seeks the Center of Things

You might say, as the youngsters do, that Fetterman did his party “a solid” simply by winning, especially as that seemed not so assured during the campaign. The problems Fetterman encountered during his Senate campaign are mostly what “Unfettered“ is about.

Truman Capote

Three on a Match, or How the Other Two Die

Though their lives wound up linked, these three men could not have been more different. Perry Smith was as poor as used-up dirt. Truman Capote sparkled like diamonds and partied with stars: Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra…. Philip Seymour Hoffman landed in the shy middle, living off his talent as simply as one can in New York. What they shared was a sensitivity too raw to hide, and pain that sent them running.

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